Winter at Pretty Beach by Polly Babbington (inspirational books txt) 📕

She ran her gloved hand over a thick layer of snow on top of the outside tables and looked up at the hanging baskets weighed down with snow and the slate tile roof glistening white in the sunlight.

She pushed open the door to a huge blackboard announcing ‘Live Music Every Saturday Night’, a line of Wellington boots on the doormat and a row of hooks with piles of wet coats drying above the radiator.

Sallie wiped her boots on the mat, took off her coat and hat and walked up to the bar just as a text pinged in her pocket from Lucian.

Apologies my darling, running a little late. I’m on a train in from the city and it’s running slow because of the weather. Be with you soon.

She texted back asking him what he wanted to drink, decided on a red wine for herself, and ordered from the bar. She took their drinks over to a table by the fire and sat there thinking - pondering the live broadcast wedding idea and wondering whether or not Lucian would think she was highly cheeky to even put it to him. She’d decided though that if you didn’t ask you didn’t get and hence had texted him to meet up for a chat.

Ten minutes later, he bounded into the pub door, threw his coat up on the hook, kissed her dramatically on both cheeks and sat himself heavily down.

‘That train, wowzas, it was so busy! Everyone is trying to get home for the weekend before the snow sets in again. Crazy town! I had to stand for the first twenty-five minutes. Cheek of it. Don’t they know who I am?’ He winked cheekily at Sallie.

She smiled at him as he told her all about a dreadful woman on the train who had spent the entire journey shouting into her phone, telling the whole carriage about her awful journey from Scotland and how the airline should be closed down if it operated like that.

‘Ahh, I can’t stand it when people shout into their phones on public transport...’ Sallie laughed as he took a huge sip of his drink, nodding his head.

‘I know. Like they think we want to hear their conversation. So rude, darling!’ He put his glass down on the mat and placed his hand on hers.

‘Right, now tell me, what is this proposition you have for me and my little podcast?’

Sallie took a big breath in, leant forward and started to tell Lucian her idea. She told him all about it - how they could offer the Orangery for a wedding celebration, how it would be live-streamed in a gorgeous winter wonderland with Christmas lights and all the magic of Christmas for a very special bride. He sat there silently, carefully listening to her proposal. She continued to tell him that she would pay for everything and then live-stream it through both their social media accounts and hope to get lots of publicity for both ‘Where the Heck is Pretty Beach?’ and Pretty Beach Boat House Enterprises.

Lucian sat there and said nothing and looked back at her silently. She looked back at him aghast that she might have offended him. He pushed out his chair, got up from the table, and exclaimed, ‘I love it, oh my gosh, this is fabulous, darling! My listeners will devour it, positively eat it up! We need another drink for this! What can I get you?’ He asked, jumped up and came back from the bar two minutes later with more drinks, sat down and started talking, ‘It’s a great idea, I adore it and my listeners will love it too.’

‘I’m so relieved, when you didn't say anything I thought you were thinking the opposite.’ Sallie replied and took a large drink of the second glass of wine.

‘I’ve a lot of experience in it all now and it’s a tough gig to crack - it’s very hard to advertise in this world as it turns people off, but you still want to make a living. People don’t want to think they are being advertised to, so this would be great for my business. It would give me some fabulous content and generate a lot of buzz.’

‘That was my only concern - so you think this will help you too then?’ Sallie asked.

‘Of course! The publicity will be wild darling. Live-streaming a gorgeous wedding in an Orangery at Christmas - that would be like a dream come true for my listeners. I can guarantee that they will lap it up.’

‘It’ll be great content I think for both your social media and the podcast and let’s not make any mistake here, it would be gold for me and the Orangery.’

‘Certainly. But it’s just come to me Sallie - how about we do it as a surprise and a competition in one? We get a groom to surprise his wife-to-be with the wedding - the whole thing is a big secret, even the dress. The build up to that will be fantastic!’

Sallie nodded her head up and down, ‘Yes, that could work.’

‘I could put it out on the podcast and you could do the same on the Boat House social media channels, we do it as a game of skill so we don't have to worry too much about regulations and then we pick a suitable couple... just thinking out loud here, not sure about how it would all work out,’ He said, looking into the fire.

‘That would generate a lot of suspense. If we got the right couple, it could work. But what about a dress, all that stuff?’

‘We’d have to rope everyone in on it, like her family and friends, choose the dress, fish around for information about what she’d like - I’m sure it could be done,’ Lucian said, tapping his fingers on the table.

‘It would be a great lead-up - choosing a dress, choosing the decor and the tree and everything. We could even do stuff on a poll - like choose between